APOD: 2026 September 29 – Sh2-188: The Shrimp Nebula
APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 September 29 –… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education About Discuss APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. Sh2-188: The Shrimp […]
On September 29, 2026, the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) featured an image of the Sh2-188 nebula, also known as the Shrimp Nebula. This breathtaking celestial object is a large planetary nebula, spanning roughly half the diameter of the Moon in the night sky. Its swirling shape is a result of the high speed at which it moves through interstellar space.
The white-dwarf core, left over from a Sun-like star that shed its outer atmosphere, is traveling unusually fast through the space between stars. This movement generates a bow shock that is most visible on the upper left side of the nebula, resembling a boat plowing through water. Although faint, the Shrimp Nebula also glows by compressing and brightening gas on its leading edge.
The APOD image of the Shrimp Nebula was captured using a backyard telescope in Krakow, Poland, and then digitally adjusted to depict the nebula's true colors. The email address for image submissions has changed, and readers are directed to APOD Submissions for further information. Additionally, the main NASA site has relocated, now hosted at science.nasa.gov/apod.
APOD credits this image to Pawel Piechnik, with editorial input from Robert Nemiroff, Jerry Bonnell, Cecilia Chirenti, and Keighley Rockcliffe.
Written by urgent.news from NASA's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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- APOD: 2026 September 29 – Sh2-188: The Shrimp Nebula science.nasa.gov
